Video games, by default, might give players the feeling they're ominously looking over someone's shoulder, but what if there actually was an omniscient onlooker keeping tabs on a game's characters? Far-fetched as it may seem, a compelling GTA Online fan theory suggests that could be the case in the Grand Theft Auto games. It stems from the simple fact that, any time a player kills an NPC, the in-game police are immediately alerted, even if there was no one around.
One explanation for this is that Grand Theft Auto's NPCs all have some kind of vitals monitor on them so that, when they die, police can quickly respond and investigate the situation. Given the high crime rate in Los Santos, it's not unfathomable that an insurance company would implement a kind of alert system for better coverage against high mortality rates. In a world built as a parody, after all, the possibilities are endless.
This particular insurance-based GTA theory comes via Reddit user gallagher222. The obvious upfront to a joint life and health insurance policy like this is that, with police dispatching immediately, there would be an increased chance of catching the perpetrator. Perhaps some of the undoubtedly expensive insurance premiums could fund the robust medical system within GTA's world. After all, Los Santos hospitals are able to treat multiple gunshot wounds in mere minutes - one of the many strange occurrences in Grand Theft Auto.
GTA Online Theory: How The Police Always Know When An NPC Dies
This kind of citizen monitoring system, though, would have to be very sophisticated, as it can apparently tell police exactly who the NPC's attacker was. Perhaps the monitors could all be interconnected so that, when a Grand Theft Auto NPC dies and their heartrate flatlines, the system pings all other monitors in a close proximity. It could then cross-reference these to see if any of the nearby individuals saw a massive spike in their heartrate. Even the most ruthless killer, surely, would show an elevated heartrate in the moment before the attack, which could allow the system to ping a suspect.
The technology to pull off such a task would have to be substantial, but, then again, Los Santos does also feature alien technology, jetpacks, and hoverbikes, so the society seems advanced enough to implement it. This could also explain why Rockstar's sibling property, Red Dead Redemption 2, has an evasion mechanic built in, where players have to actually be spotted and identified while doing a crime in order to get caught. Red Dead Redemption and GTA's worlds have been subtly linked together in various ways, so it serves to reason their NPCs would function the same way, and, thus, GTA Online's NPCs would need some kind of technological augmentation to get around Red Dead's simple crime-spotting rules.
Source: gallagher222/Reddit